Spartan Race post game

Post Game:I wandered over to the “showers” which were garden hoses with zero pressure hanging from some pipes, the water barely dribbling out of them. I was able to get some of the mud off me and was surprised to find giant globs of it in places like the top of my head. I rinsed off, as best I could, and headed for the bus so I could get back to the car and change clothes. On the bus I talked with a couple dudes. Guy behind me came up from AZ and said he did the Warrior Dash the week before down there. I asked how it was and he said compared to The Spartan it was like a “Warm-up.” We all talked about the course and what obstacles we failed and when I said I did 150 burpees total, they were like “Damn!”

I got back to my car where I had stashed 2 gallons of water, a protein shake and a bottle of PowerAde. Took about a gallon and a half of water to get the remaining crud off me to a point where I could feel OK about changing into my clean clothes. All but the numbers on my calves and a little bit on my hands had vanished. I forced myself to drink half the shake, even though I really didn’t want it, and drank some water then took the PowerAde with me to go back to the festival. On the way to the bus stop, I saw the bus coming and had to run for it.  :\

I rode over with a handful of kids who must’ve been running in one of the last heats. I walked around the grounds, found the beer tent and turned in my ticket for my free beer. I took a drink and almost threw up. I wandered around a bit and took some pictures. After about a half hour I just generally felt like crap and thought to myself “WTF am I still doing here?” I choked down another swallow or 2 of my beer and tossed the rest.

When I got back to the bus stop there was a huge line to get back to the parking lots. I was standing next to a couple guys idly chatting, when one of their friends came up with a big ass Spartan sword. He was the dude who damn near beat Hobie and the sword was the 2nd place trophy. We all get to chumming around. He said it was his first ever obstacle race and that the race people were trying to talk him into letting them train him. Super cool guys, all very humble and friendly. Probably about 23 years old. He said he didn’t train at all for the race, but talking to his buddy later I got the impression that they were all tri-athletes. His buddy was in 3rd place, but missed the spear toss and dropped to 5th. Sword guy’s right hand was jacked up and said he did it the 2nd time on the ropes, slipping in the mud. Second time? Oh yeah, these guys ran it twice. The 2nd time just for fun! They ran the competitive heat and right after that in my heat. One guy said he saw me out there and envied my water bottle. :)

They had interesting insight and said it was way harder the 2nd time. No kidding, right? But no, they said, not in that "I'm completely tired" sort of way, they said the course itself was harder after a few hundred people had run it. First time through the mud hills weren’t mud yet or as steep, the barbed wire pit mud wasn’t as thick and nothing was as slippery and mucked up. They said it took a lot longer than it should have the 2nd time through. Talked more with them on the bus ride to the cars and they said definitely run the competitive heat next time if you’re in any kind of decent shape.

Getting home I was beat. The aches were creeping in, especially in my shoulders. The cut on my knee closed up pretty good considering it was pretty deep when I first cleaned it out. After I unloaded everything, I started the shower and weighed myself. 183lb. I’d lost 4lb. since my previous shower the night before. Later that night I started getting the deep bronchial, unused portion of my lungs, clean out cough. This still persists the day after a little bit. Certainly the worst I’ve ever had it.

Reflections:

The water bottle was good and bad. I think it caused me 30-60 burpees for sure, but out on the open terrain it was awesome to have a gulp of water. I think it’s good, just needs a little lanyard tweaking. Some guys had real small Camelbacks, which is also a good idea.

Gloves, I’m 50-50 on. Probably wouldn’t wear then in a competitive heat for sure.

No shirt for sure. I was hesitant about this, but it’s the way to go. There were a lot of muddy discarded shirts along the route.

Put sunscreen on after you draw on yourself. Seems obvious now, but didn’t even think about it beforehand.

Running with a buddy would be a hundred times more awesome. I was fortunate to meet Terry on the road and it made the last half go quicker.

I’m happy with my finish, but a couple dumb mistakes really cost me. If I had a better idea of the score going in, I think I would’ve done much better. Next time, I’ll run in the competitive heat.

I’m really glad I ran on a Saturday. Going to work the next day would suck.

Probably the hardest physical thing I’ve ever done, but I would (will) totally do it again.